Deals and Financings

Creat Group of China has withdrawn its current $1.5 billion offer to acquire Biotest (DE: BIOG), a German blood plasma products corporation, because US regulators refused to approve the deal (see story). According to Bloomberg, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was worried that a China corporation would have access to US donor information. Creat and Biotest said the acquisition can not be completed under the current structure, but the two companies hope to forge a new agreement that will satisfy US regulators.  

Valeant Pharma (NYSE: VRX) closed its $190 million sale of California-based Obagi Medical Products to Haitong International Zhonghua Finance Acquisition Fund I, L.P. and its affiliate Obagi Cosmeceuticals, LLC (see story). Obagi sells cosmeceuticals (skin care products that contain ingredients that have been proven to have a positive effect) through dermatologists or medical spas, although they are OTC products. One of the partners of the Haitong fund is China Regenerative Medicine International Limited, which presumably has an interest in marketing the Obagi products in China.  

Zhejiang Huahai Pharma acquired Greater China rights to EU-101, a preclinical immuno-oncology candidate discovered by Eutilex of South Korea, in a $65 million agreement (see story). Huahai made a $30 million equity investment into Eutilex, and it will pay up to $35 million in milestones on 10 immuno-oncology indications. Eutilex will also receive royalties on China sales. In an unusual provision, Huahai will gain from Eutilex's out-licensing revenues of EU-101, and it will receive royalties on ex-China sales.  

EOC Pharma Group of Shanghai closed a $32 million B funding round (see story). EOC, a spin-out from Eddingpharm, in-licenses rights to develop, manufacture and market oncology assets from global pharmas. Unlike its parent, EOS concentrates on novel oncology drugs that require mid to late stage clinical development for registration. So far, EOC has in-licensed a pipeline of six candidates, which it hopes will prove to be first-in-class or best-in-class. EOC plans to in-license additional late-stage clinical oncology assets.  

AnchorDx Corp of Guangzhou raised $28 million in a Series B round to develop precision oncology products using next-generation sequencing technology (see story). The company's major focus applies NGS to methylated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to diagnose early stage cancer. The round was led by 6 Dimensions Capital, the company formed earlier this year by the merger of WuXi Healthcare Ventures and Frontline BioVentures, along with Sijia Jianxin Fund. Anchor was established in 2015.  

Exicure, a Chicago developer of nucleic acid drugs, closed a $11.2 million funding led by Yantai-based Luye Pharma (HK: 2186) (see story). Exicure is developing gene silencing and immunotherapeutic drugs using its proprietary three-dimensional Spherical Nucleic Acid (SNA™) constructs to deliver the drug. So far, it has completed a small Phase I trial of a topical psoriasis treatment. Exicure, which previously received backing from Bill Gates and other tech leaders, has formed a $790 million collaboration/out-licensing agreement with Purdue Pharma for its lead psoriasis drug and three other targets.  

Ark Biosciences of Shanghai partnered with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr) of La Jolla to develop first-in-class therapies for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and related lung diseases (see story). Based on its breakthrough in synthesizing boronic acids, Calibr constructed a compound to inhibit neutrophil elastase, the cause of damage in COPD, cystic fibrosis and other respiratory ailments. Calibr is an affiliate of The Scripps Research Institute. Ark, a specialist in viral infection and respiratory diseases, will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development of the molecule.  

Company News

Genovis, a Swedish enzyme company, signed a China distribution agreement with Shanghai Titan Scientific (see story). Genovis sells a portfolio of enzymes, which it calls SmartEnzymes, that facilitate development and quality control of biological drugs. In September, Genovis announced a distribution pact with Beijing Zhongyuan Ltd., its first foray into the China market. The company sells its products worldwide. No financial details of the China agreements were disclosed.  

Cellular Biomedicine (NSDQ: CBMG) held an official opening for its new Shanghai CAR-T manufacturing facility, located in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park (see story). The company now has three China plants (Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi), which will provide clinical trial supplies of its CAR-T candidate. In 2015, Cellular Biomedicine formed a partnership with the Chinese PLA General Hospital (the 301 hospital) of Beijing for the CAR-T immunotherapy. CBMG says it now has the ability to produce all plasmids and viral vectors for the therapy in-house.  

Disclosure: none.